Who are they and how are they doing?

The immigrant population in Norway consists of approximately 387,000 persons (as at 1 January 2006). There are slightly more female immigrants than male - almost 196,000 women compared with around 191,000 men. 163,000 of the female immigrants are first-generation immigrants and 33,000 are descendants, a distribution which is similar in the male immigrant population.

Female immigrants from Pakistan make up the largest non-western group of female immigrants, and 7 per cent of the Norwegian female immigrant population have Pakistani background. More than 7,400 women were born in Pakistan and immigrated to Norway, while almost 6,000 are descendants. The descendants with a Pakistani background make up the largest group of descendants, followed by the Vietnamese with only half as many. The descendants are very young, only 4 per cent are over the age of 30.

After Pakistan, the largest groups of female immigrants come from Vietnam (9,300), Iraq (8,600), Somalia (8,300) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (7,500). These countries also have the largest groups of male immigrants (see figure 1).

The immigrant group from Poland had its highest growth in 2005. A total of 2,900 new Poles found their way to Norway; an increase of 33 per cent. This figure includes 650 women, and an increasing number of Polish women are arriving as family immigrants to other Polish immigrants.

Women in the minority in refugee groups

There are more men than women from countries that have seen large groups of refugees in recent years, such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. This is because it is more common for the men to flee on their own, while the women sometimes arrive later through family reunification. The skewed gender balance in pronounced refugee groups therefore evens out over time. For example, in 2000 there were twice as many male immigrants from Iraq as female (8,300 men compared with 4,000 women). As at 1 January 2006, the difference had fallen to 11,500 men and 8,600 women. The levelling out among refugee groups is also due to the fact that family immigrant children eventually come to Norway, and the sex distribution among these is naturally even.

Majority of women from Russia, Thailand and Philippines

There has been a large overrepresentation of female immigrants from countries such as Russia, Thailand and the Philippines. Many of these marry men with no immigrant background. At the beginning of 2006, there were 6,900 female immigrants from Russia compared with 3,500 male immigrants, 6,600 female immigrants from Thailand compared with 1,200 males and 6,500 female immigrants from the Philippines compared with 2,000 males.

The majority of family immigrants are women

As can be seen in figure 2, female immigrants and male immigrants arrive in Norway for rather different reasons. While family immigration is the most common reason for female immigrants to stay in Norway, the majority of men are refugees. It is important to bear the reasons for immigration in mind when interpreting statistics that show disparity between men and women.

During the period 1991 to 2005, between 60 and 70 per cent of all persons who arrived as family immigrants with a non-Nordic background were women. This is partly because, as previously discussed, it is more common among refugees for the men to leave their country first and subsequently be reunited with their families (family immigration).

Furthermore, it is much more common for men with no immigrant background to marry someone who is living abroad at the time the marriage is contracted than it is for women. These women are also registered as family immigrants. This is a trend that has grown since the end of the 1990s, before which time it was just as common for women with no immigrant background to enter into marriages with someone living abroad at the time of marriage.

Women make up the minority of persons arriving in Norway as refugees (not including those arriving under family immigration to refugees). During the period 1990 to 2005, four out of ten refugees were women.

Women account for 58 percent of those who come to Norway to study. The lowest percentage accounts for the women among those who have come as labour immigrants. On average, about one out of four labour immigrants were women during the period 1990-2005.

55 per cent of all female first-generation immigrants with a non-Nordic background who immigrated during the period 1990-2004 arrived via family immigration. 25 percent arrived as refugees, 7 percent as labour immigrants and 12 percent arrived via study permits and under family reunification of refugees. While there were 2.3 times as many men who came to work than to study, 1.8 times more women came to study than to work. The remainder (which amounts to 7 per cent) had a different reason for immigration, which included immigrants with applications that could not be classified, such as where a granted visa is the only positive decision. A visa does not provide a basis for a residence permit.

Three out of ten living in Oslo

There is a concentration of non-western female immigrants living around the central østland region. 34 per cent of all female immigrants live in Oslo, and when Akershus is included, the figure is 46 per cent (as at 1 January 2006). The settlement patterns of the women are very similar to the men’s settlement patterns.

More common to be married

It is more common for female immigrants to be married than for women in the population in general. While 55 per cent of all women aged 35-44 are married, this is the case for 60 per cent of western female immigrants and 74 per cent of non-western female immigrants (as at 1 January 2006). It is also more common for non-western male immigrants to be married than men in the population as a whole, while the percentage of married western male immigrants is almost the same as for the population as a whole.

There are very few descendants aged 35-44, so it is too early to comment on their marriage patterns. For the 25-34 age group, however, the pattern for descendants is very different to that of the first-generation immigrants. For example, 76 per cent of all Asian first-generation women aged 25-34 are married compared with 58 per cent of the female descendants with an Asian background. The figure, however, is far higher than among the women in the population as a whole, where only 36 per cent are married.

It is not less common among women in the non-western immigrant population to be divorced than in the population as a whole; 12 per cent of everyone aged 35-44 in both groups are divorced.

Trans-national marriages

It is more common for men with no immigrant background to marry a woman living abroad at the time the marriage was contracted (trans-national marriage), than for women with the same background. During the period 1996-2004, the majority of trans-national marriages were entered into between men with no immigrant background and women with Thai citizenship. The next largest groups in this regard were women with Russian and Philippine citizenships. The number of marriages between men with no immigrant background and non-resident women has increased throughout the period (Daugstad, forthcoming).

Women study to a greater extent than men

Women have a higher tendency to study than men, both with regard to immigrants and in the population as a whole. This is the case regardless of whether we look at figures for upper secondary education or higher education, and it applies to those with western backgrounds as well as non-western backgrounds. The gender differences are also greater among descendants than among first-generation immigrants and among non-western descendants than western.

Among non-western female first-generation immigrants aged 19-24, 20 per cent were in higher education, compared with 16 per cent of the men (as at 1 October 2005). The figure for descendants was much higher; but while almost 37 per cent of all female non-western descendants were in higher education in 2005, this only applied to 28 per cent of the men (aged 19-24). It was actually just as common for female non-western descendants to study as it was for women in the population as a whole, while the tendency to study among male non-western descendants was somewhat lower than for the male population as a whole. For further details on immigrants in higher education, see Henriksen (2006).

The percentage of females at upper secondary schools is also higher than males. Figures from 1 October 2004 show that from the immigrant population, 77.3 per cent of males and 79.8 of the females of an age to attend upper secondary school (16-18) were undertaking upper secondary education. In the population as a whole, the corresponding figures were 89.8 per cent and 91.4 per cent respectively.

but have lower levels of education

In the population with no immigrant background, there are more women than men in the age of 30-44 years with higher education. While women from western countries have a higher education than men on average, the trend is reversed among a number of non-western immigrant groups. The differences in the level of education between men and women are greater among immigrants from Africa, where almost 11 per cent of the women and 19 per cent of the men are registered with higher education. There are also major differences between non-western women. For instance, figures from 2004 show, , that while 34 and 32 per cent of female immigrants from India and the Philippines respectively have higher education, this only applied to 9, 7 and 4 per cent of the women from Pakistan, Turkey and Somalia respectively.

We do not have any data on education levels for one out of three non-western female immigrants (30-44 years). Despite the lack of data on education levels, the existing data do show considerable differences between female immigrants.

Lower labour force participation for women

Almost 53 per cent of all first-generation female immigrants were in employment in the fourth quarter of 2005. This is 13.5 percentage points lower than women in the population as a whole. As with the men, non - western female immigrants were in employment to a significantly less extent than western female immigrants. While almost 66 per cent of western female immigrants were employed, this applied to 47 per cent of non-western women. The differences in employment are partly due to different reasons of immigration: Western women come to Norway to a greater extent as labour immigrants than non-western women, who by and large are refugees or have come via family reunification.

The lowest employment rates are found among the refugee groups with a short period of residence, such as among those from Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq. For these countries, 19 per cent, 20 per cent and 22 per cent of the women participated in the labour force respectively (all aged 16-74). Pakistani women also have a low labour force participation (28 per cent), and much lower than Pakistani men (60 per cent). The highest rate among non-western immigrant groups is women from Poland (64 per cent), the Philippines (63 per cent) and Chile (61 per cent).

Out of all the non-western immigrant groups, the women have considerably lower work participation rates than the men. Almost 58 per cent of all non-western first-generation male immigrants were employed in the fourth quarter of 2005 compared with around 47 per cent of the women.

Sales and service occupations most common

Sales and service occupations are the most common occupations among non-western female immigrants and women in the population in general. More than a third of women in employment are in such occupations. Although sales and service jobs are also common among the men, these account for 16 percentage points less than the women. Fewer non-western female immigrants than women in the population as a whole have university, college or academic occupations, managerial positions or office jobs, while more are machine operators or drivers. The greatest difference in relation to women in the population as a whole is found in the category “Other occupations”, which mostly consists of unskilled occupations.

The data on occupations cover all employees in the private and public sectors except for the health authorities (i.e. the hospitals) and employees in companies within the municipal and county council sectors (including employees in local government administration).

Female immigrants have lower incomes

Non-western female immigrants have low incomes, seen in relation to women and men from western countries and in relation to men with non-western backgrounds.

There is, however, a clear distinction between the different immigrant groups. Women from East Europe, Asia, Africa, Central and South America and Turkey have a far lower aggregate income than female immigrants from West Europe, North America and Oceania.

Where we take the female immigrants’ income from employment as a percentage of other women’s income from employment, we have a gauge of the extent to which first-generation female immigrants are approaching the Norwegian income pattern. As can be seen in figure 6, the country of origin is a major factor when comparing the income from employment of first-generation female immigrants with income from employment of women of the same age with no immigrant background.

When we look at women aged between 35 and 44, we find that the income level of women from countries such as India, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Poland does not differ to any great extent to women with no immigrant background. At the other end of the scale are countries such as Somalia, Pakistan and Turkey (Sandnes 2005).

Female immigrants have a higher voter participation rate than men

As with male immigrants, the voter participation rate among female immigrants is far lower than for women in the population in general. In 2005, 78 per cent of all female electors voted, compared with 50 per cent of female electors with an non-western immigrant background.

Non-western female immigrants had 2 percentage points more with regard to voter participation than non-western male immigrants. The same difference was also found in 2001 and 1997. Only in two non-western country groups, India and Pakistan, have men had a higher voter participation rate than women at the three general elections we have figures for. As with previous general elections, the voter participation among immigrants with western backgrounds was identical for men and women. Women from Sri Lanka had the highest voter participation among the non-western female immigrants; 9 percentage points lower than the voter participation of women in general (Aalandslid 2006).

References (all but Byberg in Norwegian only)

Byberg, Ingvild Hauge (2002): Immigrant women in Norway. A summary of findings on demography, education, labour and income, Reports 2002/23, Statistics Norway.

Daugstad, Gunnlaug (2006): Hvem gifter innvandrere i Norge seg med?, To be published in Samfunnsspeilet 4/2006, Statistics Norway

Daugstad, Gunnlaug (forthcoming): Grenseløs kjærlighet ? Ekteskapsmønstre og familieinnvandring i det flerkulturelle Norge , Reports; Statistics Norway.

Henriksen, Kristin (2006): Studievalg i innvandrerbefolkningen. Bak apotekdisken, ikke foran tavla. To be published in Samfunnsspeilet 4/2006, Statistics Norway.

Sandnes, Toril (2005): Fordelingen av økonomiske ressurser mellom kvinner og menn. Inntekt, sysselsetting og tidsbruk. Reports 2005/35, Statistics Norway.

Aalandslid, Vebjørn (2006): Valgdeltakelsen blant norske statsborgere med ikke - vestlig innvandrerbakgrunn ved Stortingsvalget 2006 . Reports 2006/23, Statistics Norway, Oslo-Kongsvinger.